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BlackBerry debuted its Z10 smartphone in Canada on Tuesday, with carriers reporting solid demand. CEO Thorsten Heins vowed to return the company to its former glory with the BlackBerry 10 platform. Also, a blog post revealed that the company and developer Unity are working to make it simpler to write gaming applications for the platform. And BlackBerry reportedly said it will update the operating system's Android run-time layer to include Android 4.1.

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BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins says applications for the BlackBerry 10 platform should reach the 100,000 milestone in time for the U.S. release of the Z10 smartphone this week. "That's a sizable jump from the roughly 70,000 apps that debuted along with BlackBerry 10, but the platform still needs support from big-name developers and services if it wants to pose a credible threat to Apple and Google's mobile hegemony," Chris Velazco writes.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins cheered investors telling an interviewer that the new Z10 smartphone has performed better than expected. "[I]t's also been attractive for customers coming from other platforms. We are a little surprised by that," he told a Spanish newspaper. The Z10 is expected to reach 21 countries by the end of this week, although U.S. carriers have not set a firm launch date. Verizon Wireless has indicated a late March debut, while T-Mobile USA has pointed to a mid-March ship.

It was fitting that the Canadian-based BlackBerry debuted its Z10 smartphone in its home country on Tuesday with carriers there reporting solid demand for the handsets. In a speech, CEO Thorsten Heins vowed to return BlackBerry to its former glory, saying the new BlackBerry 10 platform will enable the company to reclaim its role as a major mobile power. Also, a BlackBerry blog post revealed the company and developer Unity are writing an add-on aimed at making it simpler to write gaming applications for the platform. And BlackBerry reportedly confirmed that it will update the operating system's Android runtime layer to include Android 4.1, known as "Jelly Bean."

The Netflix series "House of Cards" is practically a running commercial for Apple, write Sharif Sakr, who counted nine Apple products in a scene involving two actors. Apple does not pay for placement, but Sakr's article has renewed questions on product placement.